New York preparations on ice as Abu Dhabi temperatures soar
“Temp of 95 today,” read the bright and breezy text message sent from the Emirates.
Apparently the only thing hindering training out there was a dust storm and the hot conditions.
Meanwhile, in New York, the important preparations have stalled. We’re now a week away from landing in Abu Dhabi for the GAA’s World Games and we haven’t kicked a ball in anger since this time last week.
The temperatures plummeted twice in the space of five brutal days as a pair of hellishly freezing fronts moved in to strangle the will to live. Bone-chilling winds arrowed through the streets and avenues for the best part of 24 hours, two unforgettable Siberian setbacks either side of a heavy snowfall that added insult to injury.
Early Sunday morning as the last stubborn snowflakes fell, a few of us took shovels to the pitch at Gaelic Park and cleared what we could before the senior team arrived for training. Ironically, the sun was shining and the temperature was rising fairly sharply. But it was Sunday morning and there was no way of bringing in the proper machinery to clear the snow quickly. Acting fast would have helped us avoid the inevitable repercussions of a quick melt.
It wouldn’t be until later that evening when the piles of snow were pushed onto the other piles of snow and so the opportunity to salvage the pitch had been lost. The city woke up to record lows on Monday morning and streams of snow melt froze mercilessly.
I arrived up there on Monday evening for a scheduled World Games training session more in hope than anything. I shudder to think what sort of injuries the players would have suffered had it not been cancelled.
The draw was made on Thursday night in Dubai but really that’s just another set of unknowns thrown into the mix. Our men’s team has avoided both of the Middle East teams who are in the other group with both Canadian teams. One or other of the Middle East teams will be strong favourites for all the obvious reasons as well as for the talented playing pool they’re choosing from.
That’s a good outcome for us, but of course it does mean we’re paired up against our neighbours from the North American County Board along with Belgium — representing Europe — who will be very strong, given their proximity to Ireland. Our other opponents in Group A are the elite players based in Asia.
Asia will be our trickiest opponents for reasons I’ve trotted out before: they’re used to playing nine-a-side and enjoyed better conditions for training in the run-up to this. The players are far-flung from each other but closer to the Middle East than us or North America so they’ll have less worries about recovery from jetlag.
Our ladies team are equally apprehensive about having ended up in Group B on their side of the event. The top Middle East team await, along with Australasia and Europe. On the face of it, that’s a very difficult line-up but of course this format of the game is nothing if not completely unpredictable.
The elephant in the room is of course the 14-player panel I’m still lumbered with. We’ve had no chance yet to allow the lads an opportunity to stake their claim and I’m fully aware of the cruelty of leaving them hanging. Maybe by the time we’re boarding next Tuesday night, there’ll be more clarity.
It’s all very serious isn’t it? Typical GAA really — we’re genetically incapable of distinguishing between life and death when it comes to our games. Paddy Darcy, the hard-working secretary out in the Middle East, gave a very good interview to Louth-Meath FM the other day. They have a healthy focus on this event evolving into something grassroots rather than elite. I share that vision.
New York has done its part by looking past the 40 or so best men’s footballers that live here. And yet we’ve put together a panel of players who are as able as they are willing to give it a good shot.
There’s another element to this that adds to the deep regard our players will have for this event. The always complex city of New York has an uneasy relationship with the Middle East. I know there are some thoughts reverberating around some of our players’ heads, especially those whose childhoods were disrupted by the events of 9/11.
These are oil cities we’re travelling to where relatively liberal values are necessitated to keep innovation alive. But still, it’s closer to the source of their tragedy than they may have ever imagined they’d be.
I keep underestimating the pride they’re feeling but it will need to be harnessed. If we achieve nothing else from this trip, I’ll ensure world views are broadened and football is the only thing that stirs emotions.
